1

QLJ,
Are you flying into Manchester airport ?
You can easily do both cities as there only
about 1 hour apart from each other
public transport between both cities is good
for trains see......NATIONALRAIL.CO.UK /
from Manchester airport
buses see.....NATIONALEXPRESS.COM /
find your way around the airport see
MANCHESTERAIRPORT.CO.UK /
Renting a car ? for traffic updates see
THEAA.COM / TRAFFIC NEWS

2

thanks for the links! probably will be taking a train from the midlands to either destination. so there is absolutely no sights to take in for a drive between Manchester and Liverpool?

3

Not really, you could do a detour and go to Chester which is a nice city, then head up with Wirral and go under the Mersey to Liverpool that way. But that's much longer than the hour down the M62 between Manchester & Liverpool.

4

It is only about 30 miles between the 2 cities and a lot of that journey is covered by urban sprawl. Also the countryside is in general a fairly flat coastal plain kind of landscape. There are some nice little places along the way but to be honest no where I would encourage you to go to if you don't have the luxury of time on your hands. Best to spend those daylight hours seeing the cities perhaps. A detour to Chester could be worthwhile.

Public transport between Liverpool, Manchester and Chester is very good, however, you will find it finishes early on the 31st, possibly starts a little later on the 1st. I've looked on the National Rail website and there don't seem to be any massive changes. Christmas Day and Boxing day are worse, the rail network is pretty much shut. If you choose to drive then I don't think you'll have a problem collecting in Manchester and dropping off in Liverpool. The north west has an excellent motorway network (Someone will correct me if I'm wrong but I think it is the densest in the country).

5

Forget renting the car bus and train connections are very good between the two cities and not hugely expensive, just go for the two cities if you only have 4 days, although perhaps base your self in Manchester (my preference) and do a day trip into Liverpool. Majority of sights and venues will be open, most only close xmas day.

6

Liverpool see....LIVERPOOLMUSEUMS.ORG.UK /

7

Just to be awkward I will have to disagree with #5. Liverpool is a much more livable in city than Manchester. On the down side for us Manchester is thriving a lot more and is indeed a great place, the money goes there. On the plus side Liverpool has the most grade one listed buildings in the country outside London. We have the most green public land per head of population in the country. A lot of film makers choose Liverpool above any other city in the country, the most recent being the new Fast and the Furious film. Probably not a cinematic classic but they chose it for a reason. We have also been Moscow in The Hunt For Red October. The area where I work is used in a lot of period costume dramas, it has the finest collection of Georgian housing in the country and is right between the two cathedrals, both of which are bigger than the one in Manchester. The Anglican was for a while the biggest Anglican cathedral in the world. The hotels, restaurants and nightlife are a lot closer together than in Manchester aswell. The Pier Head is a world herritage sight. The park in Birkenhead is the one Central Park in New York is based on. I live round the corner from Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields and Paul McCartney and John Lennons houses. Whats not to like? Ha ha.

I am of course biased and you may well prefer Manchester. Ha ha.

8

Just to stir things up more I'd say stay in Liverpool and visit Manchester for a day. There really isn't that much to see there. Plus Liverpool is halfway between Manchester and Chester. You can visit both quicker from here.

9

Oh yes, and we have the oldest China Town in the world outside China and the biggest Chinese Arch that isn't actually in China.